Perfect Stranger
Metascore
31 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 31
  3. Negative: 17 out of 31
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  1. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    38
    Perfect Stranger is the Egg MacGuffin of whodunits, a cheesy affair that casts so many baited lures that they tangle each other and don't hook you.
  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    A movie so inane that it fails to rise to the level of "good trash."
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    30
    The star wattage quickly dims in this slick-looking but ringingly hollow affair that starts off generically at best before collapsing into a convoluted heap of shrill screen cliches.
  4. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Steve Davis
    30
    The fishy smell that permeates Perfect Stranger comes from all of the red herrings flopping around this absurdly plotted Hollywood thriller.
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    30
    The director, as he showed in movies like "After Dark, My Sweet," and "Fear," specializes in conjuring conspiratorial atmospheres in which anxiety and sexual menace hang in the air like a heavy, bitter perfume. Long after you've dismissed the movie's ridiculous, convoluted story, traces of that scent may linger.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    30
    A disorienting cocktail of illogic and hysteria that requires an 11th-hour soliloquy just to explain what's happened.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    30
    Just another thriller, utterly disposable.
  8. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    25
    A dull, dumb and unforgivably dated thriller, free of thrills and any kind of perfection.
  9. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    25
    Have you ever seen a movie without a single believable moment? Perfect Stranger, a convoluted and altogether risible thriller with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis, manages this difficult feat.
  10. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    25
    Superficial and lurid, Perfect Stranger is the cinematic equivalent of spam and should, like those trashy messages, be avoided.
  11. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    25
    After "Gothika " and "Catwoman ," a viewer has to wonder: Why does this woman keep making thrillers if she can't bring herself to be thrilled?
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    25
    A crappy thriller gussied up with a chrome-plated veneer.
  13. Empire
    Reviewed by: Dan Jolin
    20
    A twist-burdened techno-thriller that would be by-the-numbers if it could count.
  14. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    20
    The movie's central problem: a lack of alternative suspects...How the screenwriter, Todd Komarnicki, and the director, James Foley, resolve this problem is a genre travesty and an affront to their star.
  15. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    20
    This stupidly contrived thriller is all the more disappointing if you admire previous work by Berry and director James Foley (After Dark, My Sweet).
  16. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Michael Ferraro
    10
    Nothing but a perfect waste of a Friday night. Or a Tuesday night. Or any night of the week for that matter.
  17. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    0
    Life is full of choices, and Halle Berry has made another bad one with Perfect Stranger, a perfectly off-putting thriller.
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User Reviews

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User Score
4.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 26 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 8 out of 18
  1. KeithJ
    3
    People who think this is a good movie need to see more movies. Rent or buy Strangers On A Train. It's $9.99 at my local supermarket. You have no idea what you are missing. Watching this movie makes me dumber. The only reason I give it a 3 is Halle Berry. I'd give a 3 if the movie involved nothing but Halle Barry standing in front of a blank background. The plot and writing are pitiful.… Full Review »
  2. MarquesH
    8
    I was against seeing this movie after reading all the reviews. I'm sorry, the critics are wrong. The plot was excellent, I was on th edge my seat. Halle Berry, Bruce Willis and Giovanni were excellent in this film. Go rent this movie, you will not be disappointed.… Full Review »
  3. [Anonymous]
    7
    Perfect Stranger is better than about 2/3 of current Hollywood movies. The plot is fairly complex, the characters are interesting and sufficiently believable, mood is sustained, and the film is fun to watch and even discuss afterward. With so much product out there which insults the viewer, why have critics savaged Perfect Stranger?… Full Review »
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